Thanks for the link RHT.
Carl Denninger wrote…
“Baltimore was a thriving industrial community that produced, among other things, a huge amount of steel.
But Baltimore lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs by 1995, all due to foreign imports produced under near or actual slave labor conditions with zero regard for environmental impact. One third of the residents of Baltimore fled the city. Worse, 90% of the jobs in Baltimore today are low-paying and often part-time service-sector jobs.
Did liberals promote all the so-called “free trade” that led to this manufacturing displacement? Hardly; that charge is equally leveled against conservatives; that is, Republicans.
At the same time deficit spending, which both political parties consider sacrosanct, has destroyed the ability to accumulate wealth for anyone that is in the lower economic classes. Adding to this was outright and documented predatory behavior by financial institutions toward city residents, especially black city residents, in the 2000s via subprime lending.
Where is the debate on these topics? It’s missing from the political sphere for a very good reason: To address this you must address facts — such as the fact that if the “average” IQ is 100 then half of the people will be above and half below; unless you’re willing to literally murder the lower half of the population you need a social, employment and political system that provides opportunity for all. That in turn means you cannot export your lower-wage and lower-ability-required manufacturing jobs to places like Vietnam and China as they must be retained so your citizens have gainful employment available to them.
At the same time you cannot deficit spend because for the person in the lower economic and intellectual quantum there is no defensive move available to them to mitigate the damage done to their financial security by such policies.
Finally, accountability for every dollar spent is far more important when you have few dollars to contribute to government programs in the form of taxation. In this regard both Democrat and Republicans fail; our current so-called “educational” system is an utter and complete joke when looked at in terms of return-on-investment.
Are you ready to have a debate on these topics yet, America?
Or will you wring your hands and point fingers, as is often the case, at this bogeyman or that while ignoring the elephant in the room — the intentional destruction of working-class jobs in this nation over the last 40+ years, and our utter refusal to put a stop to the abusive and outrageous “trade policies” that enable it.
_____________________________________________________________________
I can agree with most of what Denninger said, except about free trade being the big bogeyman. It is, but it’s just one problem among many. First of all “free trade” is a misnomer, there’s nothing free about it. If you have ever tried to start a business in California you know exactly what I’m talking about. The kind of government overreach we have here is the trajectory the nation is taking, and we’re leading the charge.
Yes, many countries have lured away American manufacturing with their cheap labor, but in almost every case they made the move because they would have died in America if they didn’t.
We’ve made a lot of mistakes and there are many people responsible, CEO’s, politicians, unions, even the American people. For example, we caused a lot of lost jobs by overly zealous environmentalism. We acted first, then thought about the consequences later and that was dumb. Yes, the American people drew a line on pollution without thinking too far into the future. Pollution is a bi-product of virtually all manufacturing and to seek perfection without a good fallback or plan B, those regulations hurt us more than it helped. Many manufacturers were very minor polluters, but that didn’t matter. If they didn’t pass the new tough smog standards they were too often chagrined to discover a retrofit was far too costly to survive and they folded up.
Unions drew a line on wages and benefits and that hurt us too. Eventually the wage cost was too much too absorb and even giant companies began to fall. They (companies) simply ran out of creative ways to automate to keep the bottom line alive. So, our union labor killed off tens of thousands of jobs or they elsewhere…Lincolns are now assembled in Mexico. For some, the answer to survival came by way of using cheap, but illegal labor, imported from South of our border. That helped some employers survive for a time, but it’s also caused no end of new problems and illegals won’t work for low wages forever, they want their fair share too.
The average consumer today doesn’t look for where it’s made as much as what they get for their money. American-made goods tend to cost a bit more because of our higher overhead and gave an in for low cost foreign goods. This reality cost jobs as American businesses were forced into a continually declining market share against global competition.
The world is a very competitive place! Some countries found it profitable to engage in unfair trade practices that destroys other companies and creates monopolies. Most notably this would be Japan and China. They have used “dumping” tactics on us and many other countries. Dumping is where a market sector (automotive for example) is saturated say cars or motorcycles at or below the cost of manufacture. They lose money initially on dumping, but the payoff comes when they gain market share. Gradually they move the price up to realistic levels, but the American based competition has died off, strangled by our own regulations and overhead those overseas competitors don’t have.
It’s a chicken and egg kind of thing. Did we lose jobs because republicans wanted free trade to the lower costs of goods and improve quality or did we lose jobs because democrats imposed too much regulatory cost and forced out businesses? It’s a combination of these and many other things.
We’re in a transition period, this is where the countries that can make an item better and cheaper than others becomes a specialist, but in so doing they become dependent on other countries for supplies or exchange of trade and what those countries make best. This can be a good thing for peace…if it works as planned.
In theory, as mutual prosperity spreads global wages go up, cost of global manufacturing goes up and the job market allure stabilizes and becomes more equal among nations. This is explained in the book “Flat World” that shows the new economy as interrelated pieces of the puzzle, each dependent on the other. To get there is painful process and we will have to surrender some areas of manufacturing, but if we develop what we can do best and do it better than anyone else…then we win. If we rest and spend down our wealth we are in trouble and right now we are in trouble. America’s biggest cities like Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago and others are welfare dependent haven’t figured out that the feds won’t always be there for them with bailouts. They need to make some drastic, sometimes painful changes and if they don’t, well, Baltimore was just a hint at what is to come.
The poverty and unemployment will continue to get worse until these places figure it out and Congress has the guts to lead to them. One easy way to see where we heading is just look at what was one America’s most prosperous state, California, and see what democrat policies did for us. We are on the bottom of so many categories now I’ve lost count, but we’re getting really good at speaking Spanish!
Much food for thought. Thanks PS!
It has been reported that 200 businesses were destroyed in the Baltimore riots. Where is the “social justice” for them?
Denninger is absolutely right. There is very little evidence that taxes, regulations or unions are the culprit in “forcing” companies to shop jobs overseas–most multinational corporations could afford to manufacture their products in America, they just choose not to. Wages were highest and unions were strongest in the 1950s and 60s, and yet more manufacturing was done in America then than now. So it seems hard for me to see how unions and high wages could be responsible for the decline.
Chris the whole business paradigm was different in the 50’s and 60’s. A different character of citizen was around, they had come through WWII. Socialism and the long reach of government was miniscule compared to today. So much has changed since those days, some good, but a lot not so good. I recall three manufacturing places that were forced out by regulations in the town I grew up in. They were thriving in the 50’s and early 60’s, then things started to change and now they are gone, one still exists, but in Mexico.
#2. Chris, it was a collection of problems that caused out sourcing of American jobs, high union wages and benefits were only a part of it. I thought I made that clear?
Re #3: Hmmm, so unions and high taxes didn’t force companies to relocate overseas to escape high wages and high taxes. They just did so because they wanted a vacation?
The only businesses liberals believe it’s ok to make a profit are those controlled by those from their own political party, like the Clintons and Buffett who will never be labeled a 1%r. But God help you if you’re a conservative and your last name is Koch.
I do believe there are loads of evidence about corporate/business taxes being one of the primary causes for business to outsource and/or relocate to another country.
Here is just one article amongst many available online.
Senate debates tax increases on companies that move jobs overseas:
“The Senate will have a tax cut debate next week after all.
But instead of extending President George W. Bush’s individual income tax cuts, the legislation that senators will consider would impose tax increases on corporations that shift operations overseas, costing U.S. jobs.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sought to bring the bill to the floor Friday morning but was blocked by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), setting the stage for Monday afternoon floor speeches and a Tuesday showdown when Democrats try to override GOP opposition.
Democrats view the outsourcing issue as a big winner with voters because it speaks to the heavy-manufacturing job losses that have devastated communities in Midwest and in East Coast industrial states.
“There is no issue more important to the American people than the outsourcing of jobs, and that’s why we’re focusing on it,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a member of Democratic leadership. He is among the senators running for reelection on Nov. 2.”
Continued..
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/09/senate-debates-tax-increases-o.html
I’m not an O’Reilly fan, but he absolutely nails the Baltimore and Clinton Foundation problems.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html
Officer Brian Moore was laid to rest today without any representative from the WH. Congressional reps were there. Remember Obama sent three WH reps to both the Gray and Brown funerals.
Thousands attend funeral for NYPD officer:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0508/Thousands-attend-funeral-for-NYPD-officer
Obama Ignores Slain White Police Officer While Honoring Gray and Brown:
Barack Obama makes a habit of castigating police for their misbehavior, and by his actions, it could easily be assumed that he is disinterested in engendering any sympathy for police, even those killed in the line of duty, while he fans the flames of anti-police rage by honoring those killed by police.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/08/obama-ignores-slain-white-police-officer-while-honoring-gray-and-brown/
Looks like only “thugs” matter to Obama, not dead cops who died to protect us. Shameful, our cops deserve better.
Some real-world observations from elsewhere on the web. Much more at the link, including author’s bio.
http://fredoneverything.net/Ballmer.shtml
—————-
Ballmer: A Race War in Slow Motion
To Date
May 5, 2015
As a certified member of the curmudgeon’s tribe, practicing our dismal and lonely trade, I am delighted by the events in Baltimore. Among curmudgeons, almost our only joy is the gratification of confirmation of our dark expectionions of humanity. In the case of Ballmer, a particular source of somber joy is the gap separating the Talking-Heads Chorale and reality. Wanton foolishness is ever a curmudgeonly delight.
The Talking-Heads Chorale will see the riots, are seeing the riots, not as an intensification of the undeclared racial war, but as a protest against racist police or the racism of whites. Oh, quite. Never mind that Ballmer’s black government sets standards for the hiring, training, and behavior of its police, and half of the accused cops are black. But the conduct of their police cannot be the fault of blacks, because nothing is.
Ominous for the future, though, is the solidarity of blacks in favor of the looters and arsonists. Our black president Obama, protecting his people, attributes the riots to racism and Republicans. Black leaders, e.g. Al Sharpton, see the villainy of whites as the cause. (I am inclined to agree that the riots involved racism, considering that black rioters reportedly burned chiefly Asian businesses.) The city’s black mayor first said “give them space” to loot. Later she told the police to stand down and let the rioters loot and burn. She has the intelligence of a raisin, but she knows whose side she is on. She isn’t alone. Supportive riots and attacks on whites, e.g. in Charleston have occurred.
The fundamentally racial attitudes of blacks from Obama down appear in the one-sided approach to racial violence. Our black president and black attorney general express sympathy for any black who runs afoul of the police, but none at all for the victims of the unending, undeniable, multitudinous, vicious racial attacks on whites by blacks: The Knockout Game. Obama and Holder cannot possibly be unaware of these attacks. Obama and his tribe are not neutral.
The Chorale says that the Knockout Game is a “myth,” but it demonstrably is not. For any who have the slightest doubt, I recommend Colin Flaherty’s latest, Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry, documenting, in Kindle format with countless clickable links to original sources, attacks on whites. “Low-intensity race war” is not wild exaggeration, and summer comes.
Several effects will follow on the riots. First, whites will buy guns when they realize that it can happen to them, that a howling mob desirous of kicking them to death and burning their homes really can appear at any moment. Fear of blacks is a major, major sub-text in debate of the Second Amendment. We must not say it, though. The Chorale, safe in high-rise condos with security desks, will call the buyers Gun Nuts and say that they are over-reacting. There is nothing like a complete misunderstanding of motivations to make for good journalism.
Second, whites will sensibly move out of Ballmer, leaving it blacker and poorer and of less interest to anyone but its black residents. The Chorale will sing of White Flight and Abandonment, instead of common sense and self-preservation. (Note that when whites move into a black city, blacks complain of colonization, and when they move out, of abandonment. It’s like a toggle switch.)
Third, burned-out business will not return to be burned again. The city will thus have fewer jobs, fewer amenities, and no pharmacy, as they sacked and torched their CVS outlet. The Chorale will attribute this withdrawal to racism, slavery, oppression, White Privilege, and microaggressions. What else could account for not wanting one’s store burned?
In particular, blacks, having burned their pharmacy, will complain that it isn’t there. They will not see a connection between its burning it and its not-thereness. The Chorale will not see in this behavior low intelligence, short time-horizons, and inability to control impulses or to foresee consequences. No. It is the ineradicable racism of whites that makes a burned pharmacy not be there.
Two hundred businesses destroyed in Baltimore: Breitbart: . This makes sense. When something happens that I don’t like, I usually go to the local Walmart, steal everything I can carry, and then burn the store. Don’t you? What is really comic though is from Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland: It “will take a little while to get back to normal, but let’s get people back to normal, get people back in the city to visit devastated shops.” Since many of those shps didn’t have barbaric-population insurance, they will not reopn, and if they do, it won’t be in black Ballmer.Which is what the city deserves.
It is the weird emotionalism and what appears to be utter brainlessness that grabs attention. Let us assume that, as may be the case, the police (hired and trained by a black government) did indeed do the things of which they are accused. This might reasonably explain attacks on the police. How does it explain burning a pharmacy? Or businesses that had nothing to do with the police? The phrase “thieving moronic savages” would not be politically correct and so, hewing as I do to the standards of society, I won’t use it. It may flash across my mind, though.
What we see, methinks, is a hunter-gatherer society, in which blacks hunt whites and gather expensive tennis shoes. In the absence of yams and kudus, this I suppose is understandable. Gather ye yams while ye may….
Where does this lead? The Chorale will speak in unison, with the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of a migraine, of White Privilege, Jim Crow, racism, institutional racism, White Supremacy, and so on. (Funny: I do not think I have ever met a White Supremacist. I have met a very great many white people who want to be allowed to live where they want with whom they want, among people who share their values and do not engage in crime, looting, arson, and the Knockoutt Game.)
What we have are irreconcilably different peoples. The looting classes are not going to turn into whites, not going to become academically diligent, speak normal English, give up crime and illegitimacy. If they were going to, they would have. There is no sign of change, and no sign that there ever will be change. We have what we are going to have. And yes, as many will point out, there are large numbers of blacks, indeed most blacks, who do not do these disagrteeable things. But that has been true of every city which has ever rioted, and it did not prevent the riots.
Not too brightly, the rioters seem to be looking for a race war. The Black Panthers say that they are “willing to kill.” We hear “No justice, no peace.” Calls resound to kill the police, to kill whites. This is not smart, considering that whites and Hispanics, who do not like blacks, vastly outnumber them, and out-gun them, and food does not come from burned-out Safeways but from distant farms owned by whites. But they are used to being allowed to burn and lootl as they think interesting. They seem to have little idea of the future, and what will happen if the Chorale loses its grip and whites say, as many privately do, “Let’s get it on.”
If you find this warlike behavior inexplicable, remember that the rioters live in a head-space entirely different from that of people who read on-line columns. Most can’t read, or barely can and so don’t. Most probably can’t spell “slavery,” don’t know the dates of the Civil War, and have only the pathetic and distorted notions of history that the Chorale allows them to be taught. Nothing can be done about this. We have what we are going to have.
So what to do? Separate the races. Stop trying to push together peoples that have nothing in common. End “Fair” Housing Laws. Write laws that encourage whites to get out of Dodge. Let black suburbs be black by their own choice, and white, white. Allow historically-white colleges to be white if they choose. Let white regions escape what they do not want, and let blacks have what they do want. In particular, if blacks have only black police forces, and whites have white (conservation of parity) then greater racial peace will follow.
This is not an ideal solution, there being no ideal solution. It is obvious that blacks, or at least the urban underclass, cannot on average support themselves in a modern technological civilization. We are not supposed to say this but, I suspect, most of us know it. Fine. Keep the welfare flowing. Regard it as equivalent to a golf handicap. (The other day I saw that some city is going to make both breakfast and lunch free in schools. This is better than letting them go hungry. It is also a step toward an undisguised custodial state.) But if the riots go on, and spread more widely as they seem likely to do, and the attacks on whites continue, the danger is that one day whites will shoot back. The country would never recover.